Belgian Grand Prix winner George Russell admitted he was surprised to have been in a position to win at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Mercedes driver held off team mate Lewis Hamilton in the closing laps after successfully pulling off a one-stop strategy to win.
Russell described his strategic victory as an “amazing result” and admitted it had been one he had not expected heading into the race.
“We definitely didn’t predict this win this morning in our strategy meeting,” Russell said after the race. “But the car was feeling really awesome.
“We made a lot of changes from Friday night and the tyres just felt great. I just kept saying ‘I think we can do the one-stop’, and the strategy [team] did a really great job.”
Hamilton led the early stages of the race after passing Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc, but his second pit stop left him behind his team mate.
“Well done to Lewis because he really controlled that race and if circumstances were slightly different I’m sure he’d have gotten the victory,” said Russell. “But a one-two for the team was such a awesome result and such a great way to get into the break.”
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Russell lobbied his team to allow him to stay out, even being asked by race engineer Marcus Dudley that he was sure he wanted to remain out on a one-stop before the team allowed him to take the risk.
“As always it’s a team effort,” he said. “So we rolled the dice, but it was only possible because the car was feeling really great and the pace was there. So a one-two, such a good result.”
Hamilton, who missed out on victory by half a second, agreed that Mercedes’ victory had come as a surprise.
“Congratulations to George and to the team,” he said. “We had such a disaster on Friday, the car was really nowhere.
“We made some changes – hard to see what it was going to feel like, obviously, because of the wet yesterday – but the car was fantastic today. We really owe it to everyone, both here doing a solid job through the pit stops and strategy and the guys back at the factory.”
Although Hamilton had multiple laps within DRS range of his team mate and 16-lap fresher hard tyres, he was unable to get close enough to his team mate to take the win.
“I was trying to get closer, obviously, but George did a great job on going long on the tyres,” Hamilton said.
“Every stint I had tyres left, but the team called me in. So unfortunate, but it is one of…
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